Highschool DxD - A Fallen Dragon
by RevanValerious
Summary: Moving from China to Japan never felt like moving to an entirely new world. Now I have to deal with Fallen Angels, Devils and some sort of grumpy wisecracking Wizard from an alternate reality.
1. Foreword

**Foreword: Highschool DxD - A Fallen Dragon**

This Fanfiction was inspired by "Beyond the Outer Gates Lies…" written by Gabriel Blessing, "Beyond the Outer Gates Lies…a high school library" written by Xavon Wrentaile and "A Demon Lords Hero" written by Fahad09. I don't intend to steal or copy anything from them and if one of these three asks me to remove DxD - A Fallen Dragon I will remove it. I do not own Highschool DxD or The Dresden Files and this Fanfiction is entirely non-profit.

Inspirations I took from this three Fanfictions are: Devils having a Sin, like Lust or Pride. Dresden getting de-aged back into a teenager and befriending the ORC and the Student Council.

This Fanfic will feature an OC-Character. Chao Xie Shé´s physical appearance was inspired by Akemi Homura. Everything else regarding her is OC as far as I know. I never actually watched Madoka Magica.

The Crossover-Part starts at Chapter 13, so don't expect Dresden or Dresden-Files Elements before C13. Also, the Dresden-Files Arc starts way after the Kokabiel Arc, around C23+. Expect this Fic to be long and slow paced at the beginning. I am already writing Chapter 23 and have planned out the next six to seven mayor story-arcs.

This is my first Fanfiction published in English. I manually translate Chapter by Chapter from German to English. And I write much faster in German then I write in English. Meaning that while I translate Chapter 2, I am already writing Chapter 23. Please consider that translating takes a lot of time. I will try to update this Story at least once a week, at best twice.

Regarding the DxD-Canon. I will take some liberties here and there. Some smaller, some larger. The Timeline stays the same, up until the Kokabial-Arc. From this point onwards I will change many things, fully start to cross-over with the Dresden Files. A Fallen Dragon starts after Episode 5 of the Anime. I actually never read the Light Novels. Anything I know about Highschool DxD comes either from the Anime, the DxD-Wiki, TV-Tropes or other Fanfictions.

While I follow some of the basic Story-Arcs (Riser, Kokabiel, Peace-Conference, Kyoto-Trip) this Fanfic follows Chao and not the ORC or the Studen Council. She will interact with them, will take part in some of the larger DxD-Arcs but this Fic focuses ultimately on Chao in the first 25 Chapters, Dresden and his Arcs around the next 25ish Chapters and both of them from this point onwards.

Comments are welcome but I won't (more like can't) incorporate suggestions because I will always be ten-ish chapters further in my German Version than in my English translation. Also, don't plan on uploading my German-Version, the entire Point of my Fanfiction Account is to force myself learning to write entirely in English.

 **And now…Story start!**


	2. Chapter 1: I am what? (Part 1)

**Chapter 1: I am what? / Part I**

Kuoh-City. A middle large city, a hundred thousand inhabitants. Nothing more. A core with a few shopping malls, larger buildings, a few smaller skyscrapers. Maybe around forty floors at their highest, maybe less. A pure residential area all around. Single-family houses, small walls, small stripes of green around two story tall buildings.

Compared to Hong Kong…Kuoh was nothing more than a residential area in the middle of nowhere. I watched street by street rolling by while my father drove through next to no traffic at all. „You will like it here. It will be much quieter then Hong Kong." he said…still in Chinese. I remained silent. Answered after a while, in Japanese: „I think not?" „Eh-he-he. Could you stay with Chinese? Just for me? Daddy hasn't gotten his Japanese at max level jet." I just smiled, a little at least.

Nearly fifty, a Businessman. Marked by the death of my mother. And still…he tried to never show me. He raised me alone. Made me the person I am now. And still spoke only broken Japanese…making it difficult to convince me that moving to Kuoh was a good idea in the first place.

Kuoh was too small, for my own taste. I saw an Arcade, full of students wearing their uniform. The uniform belonging to Kuoh Academy. My new school. Saw a Supermarket and a small Bike-Shop. A Car-Dealership looking like it barely made months end. And then…only more streets lined with small houses and homes. And I couldn't think of a reason why

but something screamed inside of me to get out of this city. To leave. Now.

„We lived a good life in Hong Kong, Pa. Why again had we to move?" „I simply needed a reorientation. Work related." „You were fired." „Heh-he. Yes. Cause I told the CEO off after he messed up. Not the best idea in retrospect, he?" I didn't know why. Not what Pa did to anger his boss. Just that he was relocated, send to a field office here in Kuoh. Practical identical to an official dismiss…since he didn't speak Japanese good enough to really work in a Japanese office. They would dismiss him completely. Or he would quit. This _work-related reorientation_ was practically an unofficial expulsion.

„Want to say hello at your new school? I put our stuff away and collect you in a while." I sighed. Realized that we left our hotel in Tokyo so early in the morning…for this. So that i could still attend a few lessons on this already ruined Friday, could sit behind my new desk barely after lunch. „Subarashii." I muttered sarcastically. Kuoh wasn't some bumpkin town…but it still didn't qualify as a metropolis like Hong Kong. I could jog the two kilometers from our new home to the front gate of this Academy without breaking a sweat. Could at least use the training, even though it would barely qualify as warming up for me. I grabbed my small gym bag, stuffed it with everything I would need. A copy of my transfer papers, to show them to a teacher. Pencils, note books, all of this…baloney.

Wouldn't Pa insist that I finish at least high school…I would have quit the moment we left China. And I definitely wouldn't have signed myself into the second year… _again_. To better integrate, so that I could focus on learning the Japanese culture and so on. I knew what I wanted, expected, from my life. I knew the things I wanted to do. The peaks I wanted to climb. High school wasn't one of them. College neither.

I didn't even have a school uniform from Kuoh jet. But Pa let me out, right in front of the school gate. Said all this embarrassing things dads say when they drove their daughters to a new school. And once more…I wished my mother where here. Wished that I could have lived with her and Pa. Then I turned around, looked indifferently over my new school. And sighed once again.

Kuoh Academy was large. Unified every school level, from middle school to college, in one enormous campus. An Academy with large athletic fields, a nearly Olympic swimming hall, rooms for smaller clubs and an old building for one of the larger clubs. Compared to my old school in Hong Kong…Kuoh wasn't even a third as big. Still, students walked in and out, many who brought something for lunch from a near bakery or so. A large wall with a nearly impressive school gate separated the campus from everything else in Kuoh.

Gave everyone behind those walls some measure of privacy, to learn or study without the city noises or stuff like this.

I breathed in. Breathed out. Calmed myself. And I hated this. I had friends, back in Hong Kong. I had been the Club-President of the Martial Arts Research Club. Here…there probably wasn't even a Martial Arts Club in the first place at Kuoh. The high school had nearly around seven hundred students. Parted into twenty-four classes, divided into first years, second years and third years. Not even a third of the three thousand students on my old school.

I breathed in. Walked over the threshold, through this large gate. And shuddered. Gasped. Felt like I was…trying to walk through gelatine or something like that. Felt like I was nearly suffocating. The feeling left me after a while. And I shuddered again. Wherever it came from, maybe from my slight tension regarding this new school…a good sign it was not. I was confident. In my abilities, my talents. And I never felt a reason to be this nervous…to feel like passing out…before.

 **Scene Break**

Then I looked for a teacher. Showed him my transfer papers, followed his instructions and directions to find my new classroom. Noticed on my way a slight error in my perception. Kuoh Academy contained four individual schools, not three. Maybe this academy was the only school in the entire town? Deliberately slow I walked through the corridors, searched for 2-B. Felt uncertain and here and there like I did at the school gate. Like suffocating.

Why? I didn't feel insecure about being the new girl. Nor did I feel insecure about being a Chinese, attending a Japanese school. My mother had been Japanese. This much my father told me, this few times he ever spoke about her. This shouldn't feel like…going someplace I shouldn't attend.

„Excuse me. You are not wearing our uniform. Can you please explain to me why you are here?" She had short, black, hair. Wore fake looking glasses. And stepped in my way, with an aura of confident authority…and with a nearly tense hesitation. If I wouldn't know it any better…i would start to think that this girl prepared herself for a fight. To attack me or defend herself against me. Why?

„I am Shitori Sona, President of the Student Council." „So, Kaichou?" I asked, hoping to pronounce her title correctly. Being able to read and speak Japanese was one thing, but being able to converse with a born Japanese an entirely different thing. She nodded with a minimal gesture. „I am Chao Xie Shé. In Japanese order, Shé Xie Chao. I am a new student here." I bowed slightly. Antagonising the Kaichou seemed like a bad thing to do on my first day. „I am looking for this room here, and it seems like I am on the wrong floor." It was a logical thing to assume that the student council had its bureau in the third floor, next to the classrooms of the third year´s. Meaning that I actually was on the wrong floor.

She looked me over, in a nearly taxing fashion. Barely non-offensive. Maybe she was a stickler for the rules and me, don't wearing the uniform, ticked her off. Or maybe she just couldn't stand me from minute one on. „Well, I will play your game." she answered. „Uh, what?" i replied eloquently, looked asking-ly in her violet pinkish eyes. „I play your game. New student? As if. Your class is one floor below, third door on the left side. Know this, i will watch your every step. Kuoh City is our territory. Keep this in mind. Or bear the consequences for every single overstepping of my hospitality."

She left. Every bit acting as if I would attack her any moment now. And something…like a bluish aura seemed to cling around her for a moment. Something nearly tangible, something that nearly triggered my sixth sense. What did i do, or not do, to deserve such a welcoming? I remained silent. Walked to my classroom. If everyone here reacted this… hostile to me…than I wouldn't stand this school a single year…let alone two to four, counting the college years in.

Staying in front of my new classroom for a minute or two, I sighed and knocked at the door. Waited again, heard a call from the teacher and entered…hoping for a better reaction. Not a single day here…and i started to hate this city. I couldn't reach my dreams nor my peaks here. Couldn't live out my wishes. Couldn't continue what i did for the last thirteen years here. I spoke with my new homeroom teacher. Quietly, nearly careful to not provoke a reaction like Kaichou´s again. Watched my new class out of the corner of my eyes. Most of them looked me over. And at least three of them looked like Shitori Sona. Tense, nearly combat ready.

What did they expect from me? Maybe, unlikely as it was, they knew me. And mistook me for some fight-hungry delinquent. After all, Japan was next to China one of the last nations to actively appreciate martial arts. At least some of my new classmates seemed like they were members of the Kendo-Club, judging by some wooden swords here and there, next to a few girls. At least, I had an idea which club I could join. Maybe some of them knew me.

I stayed quiet while my new teacher ordered everyone to silence, breaking many of my new classmates out of their whispered conversations. „Some of you may know that we get a new student in our class, starting next week. Today she made a small detour to introduce herself. So, Shé-kun. Introduce yourself to your new class. Speak about your hobby´s and so on." At least he sounded friendly.

Thinking about how expensive the paneling and floors seemed, how much money nearly everything in this school seemingly devoured…it was to be expected. Kuoh seemed like some sort of open private Academy. No public school, not even in Japan, would furnish their rooms so expensively.

 **Scene Break**

„I am Chao Xie Shé. Eighteen Years old. I lived in China, Hong Kong, until last week. Was Buchou of the Martial Arts Research Club at my old school. I trained Chinese Wushu, in all of its nineteen weaponless and nine armed, forms over the last thirteen years for nearly four hours a day. Reaching the eight duan, called Yinlong. Which makes me a silver dragon and grand master of Chinese martial arts. I am probably a boring person. To reach my level of ability I had to train practically every free minute for most of my life. I speak fluently Chinese and nearly fluently Japanese. Also a bit English. Besides Wushu I am interested in japanese Kenjutsu…but I am not really trained regarding it." Then I silenced myself. Waited for questions.

Most of my new classmates were either deterred or simply not interested in me anymore. They could guess that I never really had time for karaoke and other normal things. That i was nearly single-minded in my hobby and hadn't many other interests. „I fought in several tournaments, earned myself quite a bit of fame in China. I am probably one of the youngest grandmasters of all time. Apart from Wushu I don't do anything out of the ordinary." Or at least nothing out of the ordinary I would openly speak about. Even Pa didn't know anything about my…quirks.

„Why Wushu?" asked a brunette with twin tails. „Oh, and I am Murayama. Member of the Kuoh Kendo-Club." „I once saw a monk beating up half a biker gang, all of them armed, with nothing but his bare hands. I found his ability impressive and wished to be able to do the same things he did. After I started practicing I nearly got addicted to it. Wushu is no singular fighting style or martial art but more like…an container. Containing 28 individual fighting styles. Also, I am quite small and petite. Wushu is more suitable for someone with my stature then something like Shaolin-Quan or Kenpo."

With one Meter and forty-seven, or four feet and ten inches, and forty-one kilograms…or ninety pounds, I looked less like eighteen. And more like fourteen, in some regards. With a slim…and flat…body like mine, most high-power martial arts were out of the question. „What are your three sizes, and do you have a boyfriend?" „Matsuda!" „Pervert!" I slowly blinked. Looked too this last questioner.

„Keep yourself away from the perverted trio, Shé-chan!" „The…what?" I muttered after nearly half of the girls stopped warning me. „Matsuda, Motohama, and Hyoudou. They are the perverted trio. They peep on us changing, speak about perverted stuff all the time." answered Murayama. I simply nodded. Implanted the faces of this three deeply into my mind. One of them, this boy called Hyoudou with brown hairs in some sort of shounen cut, was one of the students looking nearly combat ready. He looked at me, with a tension…and nearly some sort of revulsion. What did i do to him? I didn't know he even existed a few minutes ago.

„Why did you relocate to japan?" asked my new homeroom teacher and sounded genuinely interested. Maybe even a teacher didn't hear very often that one of his students held the rank of a martial arts grandmaster. „My Father was voluntold to transfer from his bureau in Hong Kong to a bureau here in Kuoh. Instead of living alone in China I decided to move with him." I concealed how much I didn't like this.

At the end of the day, I had faltered. Because he loved me because he couldn't take it to live alone after mother died. I was everything he had, everything he lived for. Well, nearly everything. Maybe he would find a new wife here. Maybe everything would turn out ok after we settled in. But leaving him to live alone…had never been an option for me.

„Also, my mother was Japanese. So, I took this chance to see the other half of my heritage." And maybe I would find some time to learn Kenjutsu. Wushu taught a few sword abilities here and there…but wasn't focused on japanese styled Katanas.

„Well, Shé-kun. Take the empty seat next to Asia-kun. She is new here too." This blonde girl nearly panicked after hearing about our seating arrangement. Nearly retreated to the other side of her desk after I set down next to her. She was one of the three students in this class…who reacted nearly like Kaichou, regarding me. What did i do to her? „Asia-kun,

may I look into your book?" I carefully formulated every single word, practically soaked them with as much courtesy as i could. Invested effort to pronounce the Japanese accent correctly.

Japanese sounded harder than Chinese, which sounded softer in my opinion. Maybe…i simply pronounced some words wrong? She shuddered a bit, nodded nearly to fast and shoved her book entirely to me. Looked like I was some sort of bully who clobbered her for years every day or so. Like i was some sort of living nightmare for her. Something wasn't right here. Some sort of ominous feeling at the entrance, then Kaichou, now Asia-kun. All of this seemed…strange. Like i wasn't welcome here. And I didn't know why. Not what i did to these students to earn their aversion.

 **Scene Break**

I mostly ignored the lessons. I never was some sort of elite-student, never would be. Was never better than average in most subjects. I stayed silent, watched Asia-kun flinch every time i flipped a page. Something wasn't alright with me. This i knew for years. I was too strong, physically. Deadlifting nearly three times my own weight wasn't something an ordinary human could do. Being able to effortlessly lift weights upwards of 80 to nearly 120 kilos simply couldn't be normal. Not for someone as petite as i was. I didn't even have defined muscles. Being able to break olympian records in sprint and endurance-runs was also not something I should be capable of. Clocking in at 47 km/h was practically absurd in its own right.

Being able to take a punching that would send others down, as if it was nothing, being able to go all-out for an hour upwards without breaking a sweat…was simply not normal. I knew that I couldn't be entirely normal. Wounds and cuts healed faster than they should have any right or ability to, broken bones healed themselves over days instead of weeks or months, ordinary cuts in minutes instead of hours…all of this wasn't normal. I had never been ill, not for a single day. I knew that I was not normal. And no one besides me knew of it. Not even Pa. I reduced my abilities, lost fights, tried to seem normal. Like a gifted but ultimately normal human being. I didn't know why I was more capable than others. Why I was stronger and faster then I _should_ be. I just knew that I was.

Maybe…Asia-kun felt it somehow. Or maybe she could see it. Or this miserable feeling from the gate perturbed me to such an extent that I projected some aura-like aggression around me. I didn't know it. Not why she seemed like flinching and running in terror away from me anytime I flipped a page.

Next break I spoke to my homeroom teacher. Decided to go and take my first official day at Kuoh Academy around Monday. Wearing my school uniform, actually looking like I was a part of all of this. Maybe this would soothe and reassure Asia-kun. Quell this hostility of the Kaichou. Politely retreating seemed like a good idea. At least i wouldn't have to endure this feeling of fear from Asia-kun or this revulsion of Hyoudou-kun anymore. I could at least jog this two kilometers from the Academy to my new home, train somewhat for a bit to not waste this day completely.

At Monday, wearing this uniform, I would stand out far less. Would register to the Kendo-Club…which was at least some form of Martial Arts Club. Maybe i would look for Shitori Sona and formally excuse myself…for whatever I seemingly did to her. And invite Asia-kun for lunch. If she decided to still fear me after this…well that would be her own problem. At least I would behave reasonable and mature.

At least I didn't cross any of the others students while making my way out of this school. And still…this suffocating, heavy, feeling stayed on me. Maybe it really was some sort of sixth sense that tried to warn me from this hostilities curtesy of Shitori. I wasn't normal, that much I know for years. Being stronger and faster as any normal human should be…well maybe I had also an additional sense or so. Or thirteen years of intensive training had not only gave me absurd physically parameters but also sharpened my senses and instincts to a nearly supernatural level.

Or my fathers love for anime´s and video games rubbed off on me and I slowly turned into some sort of late-blooming chuunibyou. I shuddered at the thought, left the academy and walked through some near park. Half jogging, at least as much as my 5cm Heels allowed it and half sunken in my own thoughts. Until I felt a nearly suppressing aura. Something that was definitely strongly negative. I shook my head, tried to clear whatever ominous feeling I felt. But it only grew stronger around a small fountain, directly in the middle of this park.

The relatively long flight from Hong Kong to Tokyo. One week sleeping in a hotel, trying to change gears from Chinese to Japanese. Different meals, different places, different culture and so on. The nervousness regarding my Japanese. Maybe all I needed was some sleep and a quit weekend. Some time to acclimate myself to this new surroundings. „This is far enough." called a commanding voice. Made me spin around. And then the sky turned dark and distorted by some sort of veil…of energy, eloping this park like an dome made from air distortions.

 **Scene Break**

I didn't know what all of this meant. Only that I was not alone anymore. Four others were here. One, black-haired and tall. Breathtaking beautiful, with curves that nearly busted her school uniform. One handsome prince-like boy…armed with some sort of European sword. He also wore Kuoh´s school uniform. Blonde hairs, with a nearly model-like appearance.

A white-haired loli flanked him. Looked younger, way younger, then he and this tall, black haired beauty. She looked nearly smaller then I was. Nearly younger. But judging by her uniform…she had to be at least sixteen years old.

The fourth one, the one who had talked…defiantly looked like a foreigner. Crimson red hair, long enough to nearly reach her ankles. Her school uniform clung to her curves like if it was a few sizes too small for her. She looked beautiful, in a regal and more refined way then black-hair next to her. Had the body to work as a gravure-model or something like this but the stance of some princess-like character. Pretty much all boys I ever knew would drool, just seeing her. Her crimson hair drifted like if it was caught by some breeze…but it was nearly windless here.

And she projected danger. Nearly tangible power. Nearly as if she was the only person I had to fear as if this three others were only secondary reasons for my concern. Then two demonic wings unfold themselves from her back. Looking like the wings of bats, looking like they were created from solidified shadows or darkness, they seemed…too real to be cosplay. And I blinked, stepped back. This…was surreal. Nearly like some sort of absurd story, something straight out of one of Pa´s favorite anime´s.

„I am Rias Gremory. Heiress of the Gremory-Clan. And Kuoh-City is the territory of my Clan." Maybe she really was something like a rich heiress. Wearing some sort of animatronic cosplay-gear or so. „Uh, I am Chao Xie Shé. I just moved here?" I offered her, saw how her three friends started to encircle me. Starting to position themselves in a combat position, as if preparing to fight me. Four versus one wouldn't be a problem for me. Even if armed, like the only boy out of them, they shouldn't stand a chance against me. On the other hand…something told me that this four were more than I could see.

They didn't looked like bully´s or some sort of street-gang. This boy, he looked more like some sort of bodyguard, nearly knight like, as if he was hired to protect the redhead, Rias.

„So, if you would excuse me?" I added, slowly walked to the nearest exit of this park. „Stop right there. I ignored your kind trespassing into my city the last time. And i learned to not make the same mistake a second time." „My kind? Is this something between Chinese and Japanese students or so?" Racism? Here? In a country famous for hospitality, politeness. „Just stop pretending." she answered, sounding threatening.

„I saw through you, the moment you stepped inside my city. If you believe that you could fool us by acting like a normal human…then you are mistaken." I didn't know what she wanted me to do or to say. All I knew was that I didn't fancied playing whatever game she was playing on my first day here. Whatever this strange distortion around the park was, this four looked like the bigger problem. „I don't know what you want. I don't know what I did to you. Why you treat me like I am some sort of convict. If I insulted you, even if we haven't seen each other before this day then I am sorry. But if you expect me to sit still and take a beating…then you are mistaken."

„Are you here to finish what your friends started? To kill Asia and take her Sacred Gear? To kill or take my Pawn?" „Your _what_? Her _what_? To steal…what? Who do you think i am?"

„Datenshi. A Fallen." Maybe my vocabulary wasn't enough to comprehend what she said. Maybe I should've spend a few hours learning Japanese names for mythological things and stuff. „A what?" „A Fallen. An Angel that fell from the High Heavens, by breaking their rules." „Uh, baloney?" I muttered. Religious maniac with cosplay wings, running around and calling this city her own. „Oh. You are some sort of chuunibyou?" I answered after a while, finishing my thoughts and taking a combat-ready position myself. Things escalated, holding back wouldn't help to prevent anything anymore. „Thinking that angels are real and stuff like this? I mean…thats all baloney, right? Or is all of this here something like a prank show? The new girl got pranked on her first day?"

Not many people would move to Kuoh. This city didn't have anything special, nothing to draw many new families into citizenship. Outside of the Kuoh Academy…there was no reason to ever move to Kuoh at all. Those who didn't work here most likely moved to Kyoto or Tokyo. Gremory looked surprised. Blinked a few times, looked nearly questioning. „You _are_ a Fallen. You _did_ feel the barrier around school, yes? Fallen like you are not welcome here anymore." Because I had black hair? Fallen Angels, black wings…so i was a Fallen because of my hair? „If you like it or not, I don't move again just because you are chuuni. So just let me be."

 **Scene Break**

The ground exploded next to me as if lightning had smashed right into it. And I jumped, rolled myself out of whatever she did. Saw the pretty boy attacking me, running with speed…even surprising me. He was trained. Not in a sword style I actually knew but he was trained. And fast. Attacked me with killing intent and i caught his blade barely in time before it could slice my shoulder open. Felt pressure, pure strength behind his high swing. Strength I had only seen once before. I would probably be strong enough to add this much pressure and force behind a single swing. He simply let go of his sword, attacked me with a second one. A second one…he conjured out of thin air. And his stopped sword, between my palms, simply faded out of existence.

Something tore into the ground next to me, separated us for a brief moment. Something…that looked like lightning. And the white-haired loli was right behind me, kicked me with a rotary kick. Send me actually _flying_. Which shouldn't be physically possible. She lacked around ten centimeters to even stand eye to eye white me. Never in her live should she be able to put enough pure force behind a simple kick to send me flying for nearly five meters. I rolled, transferred most of my fall into a long roll. Leaped back into a combat stance. And something black, covered in some sort of crimson aura, only missed me by centimeters. Gouged the ground right behind me. Simply…annihilated earth and halve a tree trunk. Those four, no matter how they did it…they were leagues above my ability to combat them or even drive them off. This battle…was one-sided. Wushu taught how to hold oneself even against two dozen enemies at once, yes. But not if said enemies could conjure blades out of thin air or throw lightning around.

Maybe I was still dreaming, sitting on the shotgun in Pa´s car. All of this was too absurd to be real. „Buchou. She acts strange for a Fallen." „Ignore it. Just finish her, Kiba." So, the prince like boy was called Kiba. He vanished from his position and was right next to me, in the span of one blink. Faster then I could even comprehend his movements. And suddenly my black pantyhose with a violet diamond pattern on the outer sides…was torn open. And half a meter of solid steel impaled my leg. I screamed after my brain actually realized that this happened. And whatever this dome of distortions in the air was…it suppressed all of my screams. Falling down, unable to support myself anymore, I crawled away from Kiba. And he dissolved his sword, before I could even think about using it myself.

It hurt. More than my broken hand, half a year ago. More than my two broken ribs, nearly three years ago. „Why? Why don't you fight back?" Redhead held an orb of this blackness, clad here and there with crimson red lightning and pure energy, in one hand. So casually as if she did this all and every day. And all of my instincts told me one thing. Getting hit by this…would kill me. I pressed my hands over this nearly gushing wound in my leg. And just looked up to her, tears of pain in my eyes. „Why? Why do you have to kill me? Because i have black hair?!" I cried out, saw her hesitate. „The last four Fallen who entered Kuoh…they killed Asia to steal her Sacred Gear. They nearly killed my Issei, just because he is a potential threat for them."

„Baloney! They live. Both of them. I sit next to Asia-kun!" „Yes, of course, they live. I am a Devil. I revived them." „Devil? You are chuuni. Or disillusioned. And not int he funny way…bitch." Her wings flapped two times. Then she just hovered half a meter over the ground. And my penetrated leg simply didn't hurt enough to just imagine all of this. All of the others, they simply followed her example. „You are a Fallen. Seemingly not one of the Grigori, you would know better then entering this city if you were. Entering my territory without a reason nor my approval is a death sentence in itself, after what your kind did the last time you were free to move in Kuoh as you pleased."

„I am Chinese. I have enrolled myself in Kuoh. I have a dual citizenship because my father and I moved here. To work. To _visit_ this _school_. He works as the manager of one of this middle large electric markets. At least until they fire him, cause he didn't even speak Japanese that good. I don't know what Fallen are, or Devils, outside of common folklore…but you are obviously out of your mind. So do it. Kill me. Kill me, you bitch." It wasn't my first fight. Not even my first fight to the death. Here and there I had folded delinquents at my old school. This wasn't my first defeat either. Even someone with my ability couldn't fight someone with just as much training…but double my own weight. But this was the first time in my life…that I felt so helpless. So absolutely defeated.

 **Scene Break**

„You claim that…you don't even know what you are? That you sincerely believe to be a human?" She hesitated even more. Looked me over, for a long time, while I felt the blood stopping to trickle through my fingers. Maybe it was adrenaline, maybe this entire absurd situation. But I could nearly feel my leg healing, at least to a point where I wouldn't die from blood loss. One, maybe two, hours until it was closed. I knew that I healed faster than most ordinary humans. But this fast? Never. „I am Chao Xie Shé. Born 1996 in Hong Kong, China and I am eighteen years old. Turned eighteen, two weeks before you attack me."

„You are a Fallen. Don't you think its strange how fast you heal? That you can actually hold this conversation with me, even though your leg was stabbed through?" „I train every day four hours, for the last thirteen years. My body simple heals better? So…do it. Or fuck off." „Unfold your wings. Fly away. Conjure a light spear. Holy Light is a deadly gift for my kind. Why? Why don't you fight seriously?" I hardened my face, looked down. Saw all this blood between my fingers. Explaining this to Pa…would prove to be impossible. Hiding it even more so.

„Buchou? What if she tells us the truth? What if she really doesn't know what she is? I spoke to Kaichou after she warned us. Her transfer-papers are real. Her enrolling to Kuoh was also real. No Fallen would lower herself this much or play human even after being attacked." But Kiba simply conjured a new blade out of thin air. Made of pure darkness, only the hilt seemed to be physical or solid. He didn't attack. And I realized…that thirteen years worth of training, around twenty thousand hours of pure training and five thousand more in sparring fights…was worthless. Nothing I could do, nothing I learned in all of this years…would flip this fight. Would allow me to stand against this blonde haired pretty-boy or his sword. I was defeated. They simply could throw their lightning and this black balls of pure destruction out of the air to me…and I wouldn't be able to dodge even more with my leg.

„Sacred Gear." the white haired girl said. „Attached around her neck." How she was able to even know of this silver chain under the collar of my blouse…I didn't know. My chain was hidden, simply not visible under my clothes. Something i wore just for myself and not for someone else to see. They stopped talking. Until Rias moved, lowered herself next to me back to earth. Walked with some semblance of elegance, like aristocrats or nobles would. Something she couldn't fake. Something that seems ingrained to her. She moved like a person who not only believed himself to be nobility…but actually _was_ nobility. Kneeled next to me, folded my collar down. „Can it." I said. And she simply tore my silver chain away, in a singular movement. „Can it!" I hissed, saw her walking back to the others. „Give it back. Take what you want from me. Anything. But give me my necklace back. This is everything I ever had from my mother. My only memento." „This here…is a Sacred Gear. An artificial one I think. Hmm. Yes. _Chain of False Image_ , if I recall it correctly. But it seems, changed." „It doesn't matter to me what it is. Just give it back." I nearly begged.

I always wore this necklace. Any day. Any night. She was the only real connection to my mother. „ _Chain of False Image_ lets a Fallen or an Akuma appear like a normal human. One of only a few artificial Sacred Gears specially created for non-humans. Weak, something easy to reproduce. This one was modified. Turned around. Instead of making you look like a human for others…it gave you the impression that you are a human." She studied my necklace with open interest. „How long do you wear this chain?" „Always. Father told me my mother gave it to me shortly after my birth. This necklace is everything I have from her. Everything I ever had from my mother. Don't take it away from me. I give you anything else…anything but this." „You wore it always?" „Yes? It was something like her dying wish to my father. So that I always have something on me to remember that i had a mother. She made it for me. Pa never told me anything besides this and a few other things." „What was her name?" „What?" „What was the name of your mother?" Why was Gremory suddenly interested in my mother? „Anduriel. I don't even know if it was a Japanese name but…" She remained silent. Nearly froze. Looked at me, stunned. Like some wheels behind her brow started to turn. Like she was trying to put my answers somehow into her disillusions.

 **Scene Break**

„That's impossible." „Maybe I say her name the wrong way. But her name was Anduriel. She was Japanese. Black hair, violet eyes. I never saw a picture of her. Anything I know I pried out of Pa. I never meet her. Never saw her. But she is my mother. So please…give me the necklace back." „Buchou? Who was Anduriel? You seem to know her." The words of this prince-like boy tore my focus away from my leg. Even away from my chain. And to Gremory. „Anduriel was one of the original thirty Fallen. One of the original thirty Grigori. The right-hand Agent of Azazel. An eight winged Cadre. She vanished, shortly after the New Maou Faction won the Civil War. Most thought she died, was somehow killed in our war."

Slowly, deliberately, she turned my chain between her fingers. „I think I understand. If she says the truth…if she really wore this her entire life…then she never learned about what she truly is. Anduriel must have made this for her. To hide her daughter. To stop others from enlisting her in a new war. This Gear couldn't possible suppress her heritage enough so that others couldn't detect her…but from herself? Easily. If she never knew what she was, if she herself never actively used her powers…then it would be practically impossible for Fallen or Devils to find her in China." Whatever she said, it was better than being attacked again. Maybe if she kept talking. Maybe I could somehow flee. Then I froze as she simply said: „I destroy it."

„No. Kill me, but don't destroy…" „This Gear is bounded to you. If I destroy it your true nature breaks through. Regarding your abilities, it was only a matter of time until it disintegrated by itself." Gremory simply dropped my only connection to my mother in her black destruction magic. Obliterated the chain, anything. left nothing of it behind, not even pieces or molten silver. And I started to cry. Bitterly. Lost any remaining will to fight her or even try to move or flee. „Will you fight? Or will you come with us? So that we can tell you anything you don't know? Explain anything to you?" „Go to hell." I answered. And she…nearly laughed. Waved one hand through the air and something like a magical circle or so sprang into existence. Complex, large enough for her and her three friends. Crimson red.

The white-haired girl just picked me up, carried me effortlessly to Gremory.

One second later she laid me down. Right onto the most expensive couch I've ever seen. I was in some kind of office or clubroom. Two of this couch´s stood left and right side of a small table, in front of one of the most expensive desks I ever saw. Three large windows, covered by expensive looking curtains. I didn't knew where I was. And the only answer how they were able to pretty much instantly move from the park right into this room…was teleportation. But something like teleportation wasn't real. Shouldn't be real. „Koneko, look for Asia and Issei. Tell them to come immediately, no matter if they still have lessons to attend." Meaning that we were probably somewhere around the campus. Likely in some clubroom. „Akeno, you have the most experience regarding Fallen. Heal her." „Buchou, are you sure?" The black-haired beauty, Akeno, would tower over me if I were standing next to her. And something…sadistic and hateful…shone in her eyes. Something that told me that I really wouldn't like being alone with her in one room.

„If she tells the truth if her story is entirely true…then we can't attack her. Then we have to repay her for what we did. You know that my brother tries to ignite peace talks between us and them. Attacking and wounding the daughter of Azazel´s former right hand would be nearly enough to start another war." „Ara. As you wish." „Kiba? Keep an eye on her. If she attacks you, kill her. If not, do nothing." Without another word she simply vanished back into her magical circle.

Akeno simply knelt next to me. Laid one hand under my open leg, one on top of it. All my pain nearly…stopped. Her hands shined brightly green for a few seconds…and my wound was gone. Simply gone. Healed, like it never happened in the first place. „How?" „Magic?" she answered and winked. „Ara, you never saw magic before?" „Magic isn't real." „Ara? Kiba-kun? Did you hear? _Magic isn't real_. And this from one of the Fallen." „Akeno-senpai, just let her be." he answered but kept his sword on full display and his eyes locked with mine. I decided to play their game. They attacked me. They _abducted_ me. And even if my chances fighting this prince wannabe and the black-haired one were endlessly better then engaging all four of them, challenging these students…these creatures…again wasn't the best of my options.

 **Scene Break**

Sometime later Asia and Issei entered this clubroom. Both looked at me, stepped a pace back. „Ehh? Why is she here?!" asked the Pervert. Hyoudou Issei, one of the three boys nearly all other girls warned me off. He wore his uniform, modified with a red shirt. And he even looked somewhat good. Not nearly as good as Kiba, but on a level, I could at least appreciate.

Something said me on an instinctual level that I wouldn't stand a chance against him if he really was motivated to kill me. Something clung to him. A presence, something terrifyingly strong. Then I realized how absurd my own thoughts turned out. He was just a boy. Maybe he was the same thing Gremory and the others were, maybe not. Maybe he was also some sort of Devil or claimed to be one. His nearly aggressive glare was enough to give me pause.

Asia-kun looked like she wanted to run away. He looked like he suppressed is urge to tear me apart. Nearly defensive, regarding the blonde-head behind him. „Issei, Asia, please…just bear it for a moment." „Bear it? What did i ever do to this two? _You_ were the ones who attacked _me_!" I quietly hissed. „A Fallen killed them. Buchou reincarnated them in her Peerage, made them Devils. Oh, sorry. I haven't formally introduced myself. I am Yuuto Kiba. Knight. This is Himejima Akeno, Queen. You know Hyoudou Issei, Pawn times eight.

And Argento Asia, Bishop. Gremory Rias is our King." „Uh, nice thing?" I offers them. King, Knight, Queen, Bishop…sounded like some sort of life action chess game. „And you are in the Occult Research Club. Our facade and meeting point."

Slowly i nodded. Decided to just take all of this, to just accept it for the moment. Kiba stayed quiet after his introduction. Chuunibyou´s, all of them. And this was only the most

normal assessment regarding them I could think of. Calling them disillusioned or outright crazy…sounded even more precise. „So, can I go?" I asked, vaguely hopeful. Maybe their game or whatever made me some sort of important person in their disillusions and they would let me go if i just played my role? „I am sorry, but no. Buchou wants to speak with you. She verifies your story right now, I think." „Verifies my story?!" I jumped, had enough. Something in me broke, some threshold how much baloney I could take. They destroyed the only one thing in my life that meant something to me. Destroyed the one thing I would cry about.

„My story?! My story is true. But you attacked me. You nearly killed me. And now you are telling me some sort of…" Then something erupted from my back, in a literal way. I felt something behind me, something that wasn't there a minute ago. And i stumbled back onto this cough. Felt something soft, something that wasn't a pillow or so, behind me. „Wa…what is…this?" „Wings, I would say." muttered Akeno with one hand before her lips and a nearly sarcastic amusement. She stepped back, pulled a curtain away.

They had some sort of shower or bathtub…right in their clubroom. And next to this open room shower was a mirror. A mirror that showed my reflection. Six wings, all of them in some sort of liquid-black, sprouted from my back. Two larger pairs, right from the blades of my shoulders. One smaller pair right under them. Wings like angels would bear, at least in my imagination. Heavy pinions, maybe longer then I was tall. Six of them, in three pairs. „Make it stop. Make them go away!" I shouted, stumbled farther away from my reflection.

Fell, landed right on top of six uncoordinated twitching wings. „Cadre." muttered Akeno, in some sort of open awe and hidden loathing.

„A Fallen of the second highest ranking. Counterpart to the Seraphim. Only one level below a Fallen Archangel. „What?" „She wants to say that you are badass, Shé-chan." issei added, nearly translated. He looked torn between revulsion and some sort of…pity? This wings, they faded right _through_ my clothes. And after some while, I realized that this Devils didn't wore slitted clothes on their backs. Meaning that their wings probably phased through their own clothing too. „I don't want this. How do I make them go away? Just let them vanish!" I shouted, more and more panicking. Saw a magical circle springing to life, then fading out again. Gremory was back.

 **Scene Break**

„You can't get rid of them. You are not a human. You never were a human, to begin with. Akeno is right. You are an care of the Fallen Angels. Daughter of one of the Fallen who rebelled against God and was banished from the High Heavens. I informed the Grigori. About what happened here. They will contact you. Explain everything to you." „I don't want explanations. Simply let me be. My necklace, you said…" „Your necklace was an artificial Sacred Gear. Something to suppress your true nature. I spoke to Shemhazai, the left-hand Cadre of Azazel. He verified your story. Anduriel left the Grigori around the Civil War. She came back, some eighteen years ago. To ask Azazel for an artificial Sacred Gear. He gave her the _Chain of False Image_. Believed that Anduriel wanted it for herself. Which wasn't entirely wrong, as we know now."

This wings, they were weightless. But they still somehow changed my balance. And they were large enough to destroy my normal equilibrium. „Kuoh is my territory. Territory of the Gremory and Sitri Clan." „Sitri? Shitori Sona, Kaichou…is one of you?" Shitori basically was another pronunciation of Sitri. „Oh, you are fast. Yes, this will come in handy. And yes, Sona is one of us." At least it explained her hostility. „And what happens now? How get i rid of these?" i vaguely gestured towards my wings. „Imagine them folded. Imagine wings folding into your back. I tried. Tried to visualize what she said. And one by one, all of this wings vanished. Ever so slowly and not nearly as instantaneous as these Devils could unfold and refold theirs. Tentative I stroke my back, searched for openings or slits. Nothing. Just flesh, without any openings for these wings. „So…you are my enemies? You attacked me because we are enemies?" „It's complicated." she answered, leaned against her desk.

„A long time ago, three great Factions waged an eternal war. Angels of the High Heavens. Fallen of the Grigori. Devils of the Underworld. And then…the war was over. They fought so long that all three Factions were on the brink of extinction. We Devils created Evil Pieces. To reincarnated humans and other species, to regain our numbers. I am a natural born Devil, a Pureblood. Heiress of the Gremory Clan. All of the others here were humans, except Akeno and Koneko."

She pulled something out of thin air. Some sort of chess piece, made from a crimson red crystal or gemstone…and pulsating from sheer power. „Kiba-kun said he is a Knight, yes?"

„Correct. Evil Pieces were created to mirror chess pieces. Akeno is my Queen, Yuuto one of my Knights, Asia my second Bishop, Koneko my first Rook. Issei took all eight of my Pawns, but he is worth more then I could ever put in words. At least at the moment."

„So…a Fallen killed Asia-kun and Hyoudou?" They attacked me. They rammed a sword straight through my leg. Then they healed me and started to explain all of this as if our fight happened a long time ago…and not mere minutes. „And you revived them? Made them Devils? Akuma? The bad guys?" „Devil may literally translate to Akuma but we are…well. Devils. Demons are something entirely different. We are not the bad guys here. If U am honest, neither one of the three Factions would qualify for this role."

„So…why are you here? Just to attack me?" „No. We really do attend Kuoh Academy." „Devils…go to school?" That destroyed it for me. I couldn't even believe in Angels and so on…but Devils visiting a high school? Taking tests, learning math? Every last bit of good will to actually believe something they said just vanished. „Wie are actually as old as we look, you know? While Devils and Fallen normally live for ten thousand years and can change their shape slightly…we are actually around your age. Teenager. And yes, even Pureblood´s like me attend schools. Mostly to find humans with Sacred Gears but some even attend just for attending."

I nodded. Stayed quiet for a few moments. Looked down, to my torn pantyhose and all this dried blood. Rias followed my gaze, simple wove her left hand. Some sort of magical circle sprang into existence, right above my torn pantyhose…and repaired them. Nearly as good as before, practically impossible to notice the former hole and blood.

„I could revive you. Make you a Devil in my Peerage. Normally we prefer death people, they actually cherish a second chance to live, but it is possible to reincarnate still living beings." „And if i refuse…you kill me?" „No. Accept that this is Gremory territory. Don't attack Devils…and i tolerate you living here. Devils, Fallen and Angels have a ceasefire. A Cadre, openly attending the same school as Devils, works in favor for all of us. I offer you to come back, tomorrow after school. Akeno will teach you…" „No." said black-haired simply hissed, left the room before anyone could react. „Well…she has her reasons. Anyway, regarding our reparations for this whole incident…my family owns a few large companies. I can offer your father a new job, highly paid of course. Money isn't maybe a solution for everything…but I think it is at least a good beginning."


End file.
